Hunters of Dune - Entry #11

     Meanwhile, Khrone is at work on Ix and Dan (Caladan).  The infiltration of Face Dancers in to the Ixian industry is widespread.  The Face Dancers made it seem like the Ixians had figured out a way to navigate foldspace without a melange-addicted and mutated Guild Navigator.  "Even the Chief Fabricator assumed that the recent breakthroughs were based on real Ixian knowledge and ingenuity, not brought in from the Outside Enemy." (Hunters of Dune, p. 295)

     There is growing underlying suspicion, but no evidence and no desire by most to dig deeper.  In a meeting with Uxtal of the Lost Tleilaxu, Hellica of the Honored Matres, and a Guild Navigator concerning spice production using axlotl tanks, the Navigator senses the paradox of the Lost Tleilaxu.

     "If your people are so ignorant, how did they create Face Dancers so superior to any previous ones?" the Navigator asked.  Uxtal shuddered, knowing -- now -- that his people had not, after all, created Khrone or his superior breed of shape-shifters.  Apparently, they had merely been found out in the Scattering.

(Hunters of Dune, pp. 342 - 343)

Hunters of Dune - Entry #10

     So here is some more "dialogue" concerning the unlikely prospect of Serena Butler being in Sheeana's other memory.  Sheeana had gone to be with the worms in the great hold of the no-ship when Serena's voice came to her again.

     Inside her head, the fascinating and ancient voice of Serena Butler once again bubbled up from deep within her Other Memories.  Sheeana carried on her conversation aloud.  "Tell me one thing: How can Serena Butler be among my ancestors?"
     If you dig deep enough, I am there.  Ancestor after ancestor, generation after generation ...
     Sheeana was not so easily convinced.  "But Serena Butler's only child was murdered by thinking machines.  That was the trigger of the Jihad.  You had no heirs, no other descendants.  How can you be in my Other Memories, regardless of how far back I go?"
     She looked up at the strange forms of the sandworms, as if the martyred woman's face might be there.
     Because, Serena said, I am.  The ancient voice said no more, and Sheeana knew she would get no better answer.

(Hunters of Dune, p. 283)

     I love Sheeana's character.  She is remarkable, almost god-like, strong physically, mentally, and spiritually.  Yet with all her power, she is humble.  When I read the scene copied below, I wrote to myself ... "So cool Sheeana does this.  She is AWESOME!"

     Sheeana sat cross-legged on the hard floor of the arboretum while the four Futars prowled around her.  She used Bene Gesserit skills to slow her heartbeat and respiration rate.  After the one called Hrrm watched her dance with the sandworms, the shared awe among the beast-men had kept her safe among them.  Although she controlled the scents that came from her body, she did not avert her gaze.
     Most of the time the Futars walked on two feet, but occasionally they reverted to a four-pawed pacing.  Restless, always restless.
     Sheeana had not moved for several minutes.  The Futars twitched each time she blinked, and then they went back to their restless prowling.  Hrrm came close to her and sniffed.  She lifted her chin and sniffed back.
     Despite the potential violence in these creatures, she knew it was important for her to be with them inside this large chamber.  After continued study, Sheeana was convinced the Futars could reveal much more, if only she could sift the information out of them.

(Hunters of Dune, p. 301)

Hunters of Dune - Entry #9

Every judgment teeters on the brink of error.  To claim absolute knowledge is to become monstrous.  Knowledge is an unending adventure on the edge of uncertainty.

-- LETO ATREIDES II

The God Emperor

(Hunters of Dune, p.238)

     Well put.

     I have to include the following short passage even though it doesn't relate to the chapter starter given above, but that would have made this a very short blog entry.  The passage shares with the reader Scytale's inner thoughts which show with great clarity and harshness exactly how Tleilaxu see women and their one useful role:

     They were just biological vessels to produce offspring, and a conscious brain was not necessary for that process.

(Hunters of Dune, p. 273)

Disgusting.  Despicable.  "Those dirty Tleilaxu", a clearly racist comment made throughout the epic story but I have to get on board with despising them as a race considering all the evidence against them.

Hunters of Dune - Entry #8

     The discovery on Dan (once called Caladan) of the one very famous knife is an amazing bit of threading a story line across many thousands of years, five to be exact.  Khrone brings Uxtal and their ghola of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen to Dan where a priestess explains the knife's significance to the Lost Tleilaxu Uxtal.

     "I am Ardath, formerly a Fish Speaker priestess, now servant of Sheeana.  Long ago, the evil Count Hasimir Fenring attempted to assassinate the blessed Muad'Dib with this dagger.  The weapon belonged to Emperor Shaddam IV, was given to Duke Leto Atreides as a gift, and then returned to Shaddam during his trial before the Landsraad.  Later, Emperor Shaddam offered the dagger to Feyd-Rautha for his duel with Muad'Dib."  Priestess Ardath seemed to be reciting often-rehearsed scripture.
     "Later, during Muad'Dib's jihad, an exiled Hasimir Fenring -- he himself a failed Kwisatz Haderach -- acquired the dagger.  In a vile plot, he stabbed Muad'Dib deeply in the back.  Some say he died that day from the wound, but that Heaven sent him back among the living, for his work was not yet done.  In a miracle he returned to us."

(Hunters of Dune , p. 218)

     Although Frank Herbert must have outlined this story line as the dagger plays an important role in Frank Herbert's Dune 7, only the part of the story with Feyd is in the original books.  Brian Herbert filled in the details in the prequel books and Paul of Dune.

Hunters of Dune - Entry #7

     The Van Gogh painting, Thatched Cottages at Cordeville, that Sheeana took from Odrade's quarters just before stealing away from Chapterhouse on the no-ship is periodically mentioned in Hunters of Dune.  The painting had apparently "survived the atomic destruction of Earth ages ago, the Butlerian Jihad and ensuing dark ages, then Muad'Dib's Jihad, thirty-five hundred years of the Tyrant's rule, the Famine Times, and the Scattering" (Hunters of Dune, pp. 201 - 202).  But seriously, that is so unlikely.  There are little hints as to why it is an important artifact.  On page 202, we learn that an Ixian had "restored and enhanced the original" but had also added "interactive simulations" that showed the observer how the painting was created, stroke by stroke.  Sheeana thinks to herself "even if she'd made a perfect copy, it wouldn't have been the same as the original" (Hunters of Dune, p. 202).  Since I already know how the epic ends, I know more about this painting's origin and how it connects to the story's end.

     A seriously unlikely story line that, unfortunately, doesn't have solid footing is Sheeana discovering Serena Butler in her Other Memory.  I just don't understand why this is happening and I find it hard to believe that this was in Frank Herbert's outline of Dune 7.  Other Memory was always from mother to daughter until the Sisterhood figured out how to Share which came much, much later.  Serena died childless, as best as we can tell, considering that the Butlerian Jihad was ignited by Serena when Erasmus killed Manion, her young son by Xavier Harkonnen.  I will be looking for missed clues as to why Brian Herbert put this in to the story.

     Note: Thatched Cottages at Cordeville is in the collection at Musee d'Orsay.  The following link goes to information about the painting: http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/works-in-focus/painting/commentaire_id/thatched-cottages-at-cordeville-18199.html?cHash=5fa6b59f9b